The Afrikaner rebellion 1914-15: Internal conflict and the counterinsurgency campaign

Fedorowich, Kent; van der Waag, Ian

Abstract

The Afrikaner rebellion of 1914-1915 is an under-studied but significant event in South Africa’s troubled history. At its core was the struggle for the leadership and direction of an increasingly polarised Afrikaner community, elements of which were becoming gradually more impoverished and politically marginalised as the young dominion developed into a highly urbanised and modern industrial society. For those bywoners or ‘poor whites’ who were being economically side-lined, the origins of discontent originated in the politics of rural Afrikaner poverty that had been gripping specific regions of the country since the turn of the twentieth century. This essay explores the ‘geography of dissent’ and the multifaceted reasons surrounding the outbreak of the rebellion. It also investigates how a new generation of progressive Afrikaner leaders, epitomised by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts, sought to conciliate those of their brethren who rose up in 1914 to preserve the old patriarchal order. In the end, although the government’s counterinsurgency operations were overwhelmingly successful, it was the political settlement that followed which would define a new national identity.

• Online Publication Date: Nov 20, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 20, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jun 17, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 21, 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 291-309
• Series Title: Oxford Handbook
• Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of Late Colonial Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies
• ISBN: 9780198866787
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198866787.013.39
• Keywords: Afrikaner rebellion, civil war, Louis Botha, insurgency, poor white, geography of dissent
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6286603
• Publisher URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-late-colonial-insurgencies-and-counter-insurgencies-9780198866787?cc=us&lang=en
• Additional Information: This is a co-authored chapter with Professor Ian van der Waag who is a member of the Military History Department, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
• Contract Date: Jul 17, 2020